The DB Discussion

One of the keys to having a good offseason plan is the ability to self-scout and identify what areas need to be fixed. Teams can really hurt themselves by assuming a position group is fixed and then not addressing it.

The flip side is also true. A team can waste resources to “fix” an area that already had the right pieces in place.

With that in mind, Howie Roseman, the coaches and the Eagles front office have a real tough situation to figure out. Do the Eagles have a good enough set of DBs already in place?

Let’s imagine this lineup.

LCB: Jalen Mills, Avonte Maddox

RCB: Sidney Jones, Rasul Douglas

NB: Cre’Von LeBlanc

S: Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod

There isn’t any CB in that group that is anything close to a star or a shutdown CB. At the same time, this group has some experience and some potential.

Mills 25 starts
LeBlanc 14 starts
Douglas 12 starts
Maddox 9 starts
Jones 4 starts

Mills was effective in 2017, but struggled in 2018. Can he get better or should the Eagles consider him a backup or possibly move him to safety? We do know he’s a favorite of Jim Schwartz. We’ll have to see if that remains true after the coaches studied the ’18 tape.

LeBlanc was terrific in the slot. I would pencil him in for that role in 2019. My only concern is that players who come out of nowhere and play well can sometimes struggle to maintain that.

Douglas played his best football late in 2018. He would seem to be a player on the rise. You can’t just hand him a starting role, but he deserves a chance to compete for a job.

Maddox started at three spots and showed promise at each. I’m listing him at CB for now. Maddox absolutely deserves a chance to compete for a starting role.

Jones feels like the mystery man. He was a great CB in college. If not for an injury, he would have been a Top 15 pick. His rookie year was limited to a handful of snaps. Then he got hurt last year and only showed flashes of the talent the Eagles were hoping to see. Could Jones pull an Agholor and put it all together in Year 3?

Maddox and Douglas feel like players on the rise. Mills could have a bounce-back season. Jones has the potential to be a good starting CB if he can stay healthy and focus on one spot. You can make an argument that the Eagles should stick with this group and see if they do develop.

You can also argue that they simply aren’t good enough.

The Rams added Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in the offseason. The Pats spent huge money on Stephon Gilmore in the 2017 offseason. All of those guys are proven veterans. The Eagles had Ronald Darby when they won the Super Bowl a year ago. He was also a proven veteran.

Maybe the Eagles should add a proven CB. Dave Spadaro had it as one of his areas to improve.

So while there are reasons to be encouraged about the picture at cornerback, we all know that the NFL is a pass-first league and that teams can’t have enough good cover players. The Eagles have some promise at the position, but if they have a chance to nab a player they love, perhaps in the draft among those first three draft picks (of the top 57 players), they might very well consider it.

Is that speculation on his part or has Dave heard something around the NovaCare complex?

I think the Eagles must address DL, RB and WR. If they can add a CB, that’s fine. But they already have some resources in place. They have defined needs in other areas. You can’t address everything in the offseason so they’ll need to take a chance somewhere. There doesn’t appear to be a good free agent class of CBs.

The Eagles could talk to Darby about re-signing for a year since he’s coming off a torn ACL, but most people think he’s the top CB on the market. That means some desperate team could roll the dice on him with an offer.

The Eagles could turn to the draft, but haven’t they already done that with Mills, Maddox, Douglas and Jones? If there is a CB they love, go take him. I just don’t think this is an area to force a move. One of the keys for me is that the Eagles can have competition. They aren’t relying on one or two guys to solve the problem. Have the players battle it out in Training Camp. The best duo wins, regardless of experience or draft status. The goal is to find a pair of solid outside CBs and see what they can do.

Now, the DBs could fall flat on their face this year and CB could be a major area of need in the 2020 offseason. But you could also see some players emerge and solidify the position for years to come.

The Eagles coaching staff and front office has studied the tape thoroughly. They will have a good feel for the current players and whether they think these guys are good enough. It will be interesting to see if they think of improving CB as a luxury or a necessity.

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